Did the Deshaun Watson contract break the NFL's quarterback market?

The league’s high stake game of Three-Card Monte

The NFL is no different than any other institution of mass influence. If you follow the money, you will more times than not find the motivation for one’s actions. The league and its owners want the perception to be that Watson did not deserve the first large-scale fully guaranteed contract because of his off-the-field indiscretions and that the Browns were in the wrong for offering it to him.

Other owners, and by proxy, the league’s mouthpieces want to muddy the fan’s perceptions of the league’s stance on guaranteed contracts and keep the real issue anything but. Owners want to paint the narrative that Watson’s contract should in no way set the precedent for the quarterback market and that Cleveland is an outlier for offering it. When in fact, the NFL is the outlier for not guaranteeing contracts, to begin with.

Ask yourself a couple of questions. Do you watch the NFL for the competition taking place on the field between world-class athletes, or do you watch the NFL to catch glimpses of a team’s owner sitting in their luxury suites? Given what the players sacrifice on the altar for athletic glory and our entertainment, should they not be financially compensated with guaranteed contracts?

If you bought season tickets to watch your favorite team play, are you able to just stop going to games and quit paying if the team is not living up to expectations? Of course not, you are locked in for the full amount regardless of outcomes. The owners just don’t want to have their cake and eat it too, they want that and to own the bakery. Just follow the money.